After finally trading quarterback Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers over the weekend, the Chicago Bears cleared the way to take Caleb Williams with the first overall pick in April’s NFL Draft.
Fields’ tenure in Chicago had plenty of issues on both the organization’s side and the player’s side, and it’s seemingly for the best for the Bears to start from scratch with Williams.
Don’t tell that to Robert Griffin III, though.
Monday morning on his X (formerly Twitter) account, Griffin posted a video explaining why Williams should “pull an Eli Manning” and tell the Bears he wouldn’t sign with them if they took him first overall as Manning did to the San Diego Chargers in 2004 leading to a draft day trade to the New York Giants.
Caleb Williams should pull an Eli Manning and tell the Chicago Bears I AIN’T COMING. pic.twitter.com/g9Mx1cggsA
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) March 18, 2024
“After everything that has happened with Justin Fields, can Caleb Williams really look at that and say, ‘This is an organization that has my best interest in mind, they’re going to develop me into the player that I want to become’?” Griffin asked.
The Bears received a 2025 sixth-round pick from Pittsburgh in exchange for Fields, a trade that has nothing to do with Williams.
“Eli Manning had power in that 2004 draft. He let the Chargers know, ‘Don’t draft me, I don’t believe in the direction your organization is heading, and I don’t want to play there.’ He refused to play for them and even threatened to sit out the entire season if they drafted him,” Griffin said. “So the Chargers traded him to New York for Phillip Rivers, a third-round pick, and also a first and fifth-round pick in the 2005 draft. Eli ended up winning two Super Bowls with the Giants and had a great career.”
Griffin then suggested Williams, who is from Washington DC, instead force a move to the Washington Commanders. The Commanders selected Griffin in the 2012 draft and he spent the most successful seasons of his career with the team.
While it’s true that the Bears have a poor track record at quarterback development, the Commanders haven’t done much better in the past couple of decades.
Above all else, it doesn’t feel like the Bears not getting enough in return for a quarterback they traded should have any impact on the mindset of another quarterback deciding to play there. The two things aren’t related.
